Josh snuffled and sneezed as the annoyance of his dream began to filter
into the conscious part of his sleeping mind.  His left hind paw began to
twitch and claw at an imagined itch - an itch that taunted him, eluded him,
mocked his efforts to relieve it.  He tried to envision the source of this
irritation, real or imagined; but could not.
 
"I'm asleep!" A part him cried out.  "I'm only dreaming.  These visions
that my dreams are showing to me could not ever possibly be."
 
Deep within the sleeping ferret's mind, Josh knew that these things, which
disturbed his sleep, would soon come to pass.  His frantic efforts to
scratch them away launched a small stone from its sandy sanctuary, launched
it into the air.  The smooth river pebble glistened for the briefest of
moments in the clear moonlight that bathed the camp of the travelers before
falling, unnoticed, a few inches away from the Master's right knee.  The
stone made a tiny poofing sound as it settled, once again, into the
timeless sands of this place that was no place in particular.
 
As a soft, cooling breeze spread its continuing relief to the parched desert
land that sheltered the travelers that night, made the whiskers of the men's
beards dance, and gave what seemed to be a life of it's own to Josh's thick
fur, a tiny twig gave its all to the campfire - gave up its perch upon the
top log - and fell with a soft crackle into the waiting embers below.
 
This tiniest of sounds roused Josh from his troubled sleep.  The ferret
yawned his best yawn, began to stretch his most satisfying stretch, when the
memory of his dreams flooded into his waking mind.  Instinctively, he began
to try to scratch away the troubling images that his dreams had left behind.
He came to complete wakefulness when he realized that this was an itch that
could never be scratched.
 
"Oh, Master," Josh sighed as he laid his head into Jesus" sleeping and
outstretched hand.  "I was there when You were born.  Such a wonderful day
of love and hope had never existed before.  Please tell me that the things
I see in my dreams will never happen."
 
As the frightened ferret watched, he saw the faint traces of a smile begin
to form on his Master's sleeping lips.  He felt the calmness of gentle
fingers as they caressed his trembling body.
 
"Peace, be still, my little friend," came Jesus' voice as it soothed itself
into Josh's mind.  "These things that you see will happen, as happen they
must if I'm to be believed by men.  Be comforted by the knowledge of the
good things that might happen after the things that trouble you now."
 
Upon hearing this, Josh fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.
 
The warming rays of the morning sun were still hours away from the barren
eastern horizon when Josh was awakened by the soft sounds of quiet sobbing.
 
It took him three yawns and two-and-a-half stretches before he could focus
on the source of the sound.  Even after all of that, he almost missed seeing
the figure of his Master as Jesus huddled close to the dying embers of the
campfire, lost in some private misery.
 
"His heart is breaking," the small and sometimes bad ferret thought as he
climbed up Jesus' desert stained robe, settled into His lap and gazed into
the grief stricken face of his life long Friend and Master.
 
"If only I could do something to cheer Him up - to ease His pain," Josh
prayed as he gazed into the tortured face of the Man Who was much more than
a man.  "If only..."
 
As if in answer to his prayer, Josh watched as a tear trickled down Jesus'
cheek, fought its way through the tangle of His beard, and splashed with a
tiny noise into the dusty sand not far from the ferret's left hind foot -
which, in his haste, he had left dangling dangerously close to the last,
small flame of the dying fire.  Had the tear not fallen where it did, Josh
would have been badly burned by the lingering flame.
 
Without really knowing why, Josh stretched out to the full length of his
sinuous body and caught the next tear on the tip of his tongue.  He recoiled
at the pain, the despair of its taste.  Then he noticed the sweetness of it
as it rolled into his mouth, caught in his throat, filled his soul.
 
Visions of other times and other places flooded into his mind.  The baptism
of that single tear brought a simple peace to his soul.
 
"You are the One," Josh said as he gazed with newfound understanding into
the face of the weeping Jesus.
 
"Yes, little one," Jesus replied as a final tear rolled down His cheek.  "I
am Who you need Me to be.  Others will see me with different eyes - will
call Me by many different names; but I will always be what they need Me to
be.  Neither what men call Me, nor how they pray to our Father will matter
much - as long as they find what you and I have found here tonight.
 
"Now we must face a temporary sorrow - a time of testing and of pain.  Stay
with me."
 
Josh was puzzled, troubled for a moment.  He couldn't forget the pain of
his Friend's tears.  Then he understood.
 
The next several days passed in a blur of constant travel through blistering
heat and choking dust, interspersed with the brief coolness of cloudless
nights.  Josh liked the nights the best of all.  He, Jesus and their small
band of followers shared their meals, talked of the day's events, told
stories and slept together in the ebony coolness of the night, warmed by
the security of their small campfires and by the love they had come to have
for each other.
 
Josh could sense that something very important was going to happen soon.
The crowds that followed the tiny band grew larger with every passing day.
Many of the men who had followed Jesus since the beginning of His journey,
Judas in particular, became ill and gruff with the growing crowds - begged
Jesus to send them away.  Jesus never did.  Instead, He welcomed everyone
who came to Him, no matter what their reason for doing so.  Many wondrous
things happened as the small, but growing band passed through the villages
that nestled near to the infrequent oases that lined the way, ever nearer
to Jerusalem, the Holy City.
 
As they neared the city's gates, with a throng of thousands following their
every step, Josh felt every hair in his thick coat begin to bristle as if
it had been struck by lightning.  He was terrified and did not know why.
 
"Stop Master!" the small ferret cried as they entered the town.
 
"Something very bad will happen here.  I know it will.  Please, Jesus, let's
just go back to Bethlehem and visit your parents.  This is a bad place.
Please, Lord!  Let's, let's..."
 
The milling crowd began to laugh at the sight of the tiny ferret as he
bounced and cavorted at the Prophet's feet, emitting sounds that only other
ferrets or the gods could understand.
 
Most of the people had followed the travellers in search of the something
special that Jesus' words and deeds had promised.  Others were merely
curious, looking for an entertainment or a diversion.  Josh's antics, as he
danced, chittered and flipped around provided satisfaction to those who did
not understand what was about to happen, nor how it would affect them.
 
Jesus ignored the Hosanna's of most, the jeers of a few, as He bent down and
caught the wildly dancing, loudly protesting ferret in the calloused, yet
soft right hand of a carpenter and Savior.
 
"Peace, be still," Jesus whispered as He cradled the struggling, still
shrieking ferret close to His heart.
 
"This dread that you feel is real enough.  Terrible things will happen to
Me in the next few days to come, but they must be.  They have nothing to do
with you or with those who are like you.  You have no need of what I must
do now.  Indeed, the need to give the gift I am about to give was taught to
Me by those of your kind.  "These others, both those who praise Me and
those who jeer Me have much need of it.
 
"So, Little One.  Stay here and wait for Me until I return.  I won't be
long."
 
An exhausted shudder passed through Josh's soul as he felt himself being
gently lowered into the cool shadow of the front window of a small house.
A very deep sorrow almost succeeded in overwhelming the natural joy that
dwelt in his heart.  His tail drooped, his whole being drooped as he
watched his life-long Friend and Master mount a small donkey and ride into
the city on a sea of palm branches.
 
"Hosanna!" he heard the throng cry.
 
"Hosanna!" his mind repeated to itself.  "If they only knew what they were
saying - what they really meant."
 
Josh lay there in the cool shadow of the window sill, his nose and whiskers
becoming one with the dust that was caked there, feeling the hopes of his
dreams, despairing in the loss that he felt - praying that his dreams were
true.
 
"Oh, Mommy!" he heard as his grief was interrupted.
 
"Look, Mommy.  There's a ferret on our window ledge.  He's so cute and
cuddly looking.  May I keep him, please?"
 
Hester whirled in anger and threw down the clay bowl that she was trying to
cleanse of the remnants of last night's stew.
 
"That's just what we need!  Another one of your useless pets to eat our
food and mess up my house."
 
Josh was about to run for cover when he found his eyes locked with those of
Miriam's mother.  Miriam cowered in expectation of the thrashing that she
knew would come.
 
"Uh, yes, Miriam." Hester found herself saying as she gazed into the joy
and hope of the ferret's small eyes.
 
"You may keep him, but only for a little while.  I have a feeling that his
real Owner will be back for him very soon."
 
Josh felt the love and comfort of two pairs of hands - one young and soft,
one old and blistered by the cares of life - as they lifted him from his
window perch and placed him upon a blanket of soft lamb's wool.
 
"Yes, my new friends," Josh thought as he drifted into a peaceful sleep.  My
Master will come back for me.  He'll come back for you too.  He's always
been here with us.  Always will be."
 
Josh slept.  He dreamed of his God and of His gifts.  He dreamed of the
ferrets who had lived before him.  He dreamed of many good things, of a
Love that could not be defined nor measured.  He dreamed of things to come.
 
The end? No, not really. It's up to us.
 
Joy to the World!
 
Happy Easter!
 
--
Paw Paw
[Posted in FML issue 2275]